Texas Minutemen

Guess who's coming to town...the Texas arm of the Minutemen. I'm sure most everyone has heard about them. Call them vigilantes or call them patriots...call them what you will.

Here's what they want to do here in Houston. They want to crack down on illegal workers at day labor facilities. They want to take pictures of the illegal workers and those that hire them. What they will do with the pictures is beyond me (submit it to the INS, government, etc). Whatever.

Here's my two cents (more like a buck-fifty).

Here we have Mexican workers who have travelled several hundred miles north of their country to find work. Some apply at places of business (getting paid under the table) and some go to day labor sites, waiting to get a job. What is wrong with this?

There are two sides of the fence and I'm kinda on both sides. Sure jobs are being taken away by cheap labor, but how many people would do some of the menial, mundane work that these day laborers do? I think that Deborah Norville or one of those other overpaid newscasters did a report about day laborers harvesting fruit or tomatoes in California. She didn't have such a great time with it. Pay was bad, work environment wasn't air conditioned, etc.

How many people do you know that would do these kind of activities? Would you want to be the one to build houses in the Houston summer heat? Not me. I made my choice to get my degree and work indoors. They have made theirs.

All they want to do is make some money. Why? They have families that they need to feed to. Same as me. I can respect that. Why else would you want to do day labor? First you have to wait outside for someone to pick you up...if anyone actually does. Then you have to go to some unknown place to work. There have been instances where the person hiring the day laborer didn't even pay them or drop them off in an entirely different location after the work is done.

I guess my rant is that I can respect a person that is willing to do whatever it takes to support their family. If the only way to pay the rent and put food on the table is to wash dishes, mow lawns, build houses, pick fruit, etc, then you do what you gotta do. At least they are not robbing people and taking what is not theirs. They work to support theirs. I have more respect for them than I do for some white guy on a corner begging for money. The day laborer is trying to work for their money, while be begger is expecting a handout.

OK, that's my rant. But here's one thing to ponder. Aren't most of us (native Americans aside) somewhere down our lineage foreign to this country? Think about it. Also think about this, what would you do to support your family? To what means or extremes would you be willing to take it?

Until next time...